:
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. I am pleased to be here today to provide you with an overview of my accomplishments from the past year and outline my priorities for 2010-2011.
I am joined today by René Leblanc, the new Deputy Commissioner, and Bruce Bergen, Senior Legal Counsel. My mandate comes from the Lobbying Act. There are three activities that help me fulfill this mandate: maintaining the Registry of Lobbyists, raising awareness of the Lobbying Act and the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, and ensuring compliance with both.
[English]
The registry is the online application used by lobbyists to register and record lobbying activities. It is also the tool the public uses to search and retrieve information on these activities.
[Translation]
When the Lobbying Act came into force, the registration requirements had changed, and lobbyists were required to resubmit their registrations. This created a significant backlog because each registration needed to be updated to meet the new requirements. My office then verified the information before it could be posted and made available to the public. At any given time, my office was verifying over 1,000 pending registrations per month. I am proud to say that this backlog was completely eliminated this past year.
[English]
The number of registered lobbyists has stabilized at around 3,500, which represents a reduction of almost 30% since the coming into force of the Lobbying Act. Some in-house lobbyists have indicated that the additional reporting requirements introduced in 2008 led corporations and organizations to rationalize their approach and reduce the number of employees engaged in lobbying activities. This, combined with the impact of the economic downturn, may explain the reduction in the number of registered lobbyists. However, my office has experienced an increase in the number of transactions in the registry, primarily due to the new requirements for lobbyists to disclose communications with designated public office holders on a monthly basis.
[Translation]
As I stated earlier, my mandate includes fostering awareness of the requirements of the Lobbying Act. In the past year, I used a variety of approaches, such as presentations, and written and electronic documents to explain the requirements of the Lobbying Act to various audiences. The Web continues to be a cost-efficient way to distribute our outreach material and provide information on the Lobbying Act.
[English]
Education is one means of increasing compliance and must be complemented with a program of monitoring, verification, and investigation to ensure compliance with the Lobbying Act and the lobbyists’ code of conduct.
My office continuously monitors publicly available information to identify lobbying activities and verifies that the activity is properly registered. Last year, my office verified nearly 300 individuals, corporations, and organizations after learning that they may have lobbied federal public office holders. My office found that 90% of them had filed returns in the registry of lobbyists.
Last year, my office also verified over 400 monthly communication reports by contacting the designated public office holders listed in the reports. A small percentage of them contained errors, such as incorrect dates or job titles, and in some cases the communication did not necessitate a report, as it was not carried out orally or arranged in advance. To ensure that information in the registry of lobbyists is accurate and complete, my office will continue to take steps to have registrants amend or delete incorrect entries.
This past year I initiated 16 new administrative reviews to look into suspected or alleged contraventions of the Lobbying Act or the lobbyists’ code of conduct that were brought to my attention, either through monitoring activities or complaints. These reviews include background research, in-depth interviews, and searches of the registry and other publicly available information. The information is analyzed and a comprehensive report is prepared to assist me in determining a suitable means of ensuring compliance. Last year, my office completed 10 administrative reviews.
[Translation]
If there is reason to believe an investigation is necessary to ensure compliance with the Lobbying Act or the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, I will initiate a formal investigation. Last year, I opened three new investigations. Once they are finalized, the Lobbying Act requires that I table a report, which includes my findings and conclusions, to both houses of Parliament.
[English]
If, during the course of an investigation, I believe on reasonable grounds that a person has committed an offence under the Lobbying Act or any other act of Parliament, or under a provincial act, I must advise a peace officer who has jurisdiction to investigate the alleged offence. Last year, four files were referred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for investigation.
As I said at my last committee appearance, and for the benefit of new members, I would like to state that subsection 10.4(3) of the Lobbying Act instructs me to conduct investigations in private. Therefore, I will not comment on specific cases, nor will I confirm or deny that I am looking into a file.
A five-year prohibition on lobbying the federal government after “designated” public office holders leave office was introduced into the Lobbying Act in 2008. These former designated public office holders may apply for an exemption from the five-year prohibition. I have the authority to grant one if to do so is not contrary to the purposes of the act.
Since the Lobbying Act came into force, I have granted only three exemptions. As I stated during my last appearance before this committee, I grant exemptions on an exceptional basis only.
Also, at my last committee appearance, I mentioned that I would issue new guidance on rule 8 of the lobbyists' code of conduct on conflict of interest, in accordance with the Federal Court of Appeal decision. In November 2009, I provided guidance to lobbyists regarding the application of rule 8. The guidance is designed to assist lobbyists in determining whether the activities they engage in could create a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest, for a public office holder.
I would now like to explain some organizational changes I made to the office. I implemented plans to improve the capacity of the organization in helping me meet accountabilities and fulfill my mandate. I created the position of deputy commissioner and appointed Mr. René Leblanc so that the corporate functions of my office would be consolidated under one executive.
[Translation]
I would now like to turn your attention to the priorities for this year. As a small organization, my office has accomplished much in its first two years to advance the transparency of lobbying activities. This year, I intend to build on our successes to refine and streamline our operations, which will allow me to administer the Lobbying Act even more effectively.
[English]
My budget for this fiscal year is $4.6 million. I currently have 25 full-time employees. I am pleased to note that my office has not experienced a high turnover of employees. However, as a small organization, even one vacancy can have an impact on my office’s operations. I therefore have and will continue to use a variety of staffing measures to fill vacancies.
This year I will continue to invest significant resources into maintaining and improving the registry of lobbyists. I plan to establish more rigorous monitoring practices to ensure performance standards. I also intend to implement and monitor new client service standards for registration activities. Over 30% of my budget is dedicated to my registration program.
[Translation]
With respect to outreach activities, I will continue to use several approaches to reach various audiences and raise awareness about the act and the code. Outreach activities represent about 20% of my budget. I will continue to meet with groups of lobbyists to discuss the requirements of the Lobbying Act, exchange information and answer questions.
I would also like to continue to focus activities this year on raising awareness among public office-holders, including parliamentarians, as they meet with lobbyists on a regular basis.
[English]
I also plan to reach out to the academic community by visiting universities that have programs focused on public policy and public management to inform them about the Lobbying Act and discuss my role as Commissioner of Lobbying.
This year my office will implement a more rigorous case management system to make it easier for the investigation team to track progress on a growing caseload. At any given time, my office has a caseload of about 50 files of varying complexity. These include administrative reviews, investigations, and reviews of applications for exemption from the five-year prohibition on lobbying. The cost of ensuring compliance is nearly 30% of my budget.
In closing, I would like to note that the Lobbying Act is eligible for its five-year review this June. I look forward to working with Parliament, as required, to provide my views on the legislation. To this end, I have asked my staff to start reviewing and gathering information on our experience in administering the legislation since 2005.
[Translation]
Mr. Chair, this concludes my remarks. I look forward to answering any questions you or the committee members may have.
:
They get paid, exactly.
Section 7 deals with corporations and organizations. There's a definition of organizations in the act that is very, very broad and is designed to include not-for-profit corporations, partnerships, all sorts of trusts, all sorts of unincorporated corporations that are not what are called share capital corporations, or for-profit corporations. It's a very broad capturing of lobbyists under those two categories.
The constituent elements for what are registered lobbying activities are set out in a number of paragraphs under subsection 5(1) and subsection 7(1). They are, as the commissioner mentioned earlier, communicating in relation to the making of an act or a regulation, the amendment of a policy, the seeking of a grant or financial benefit--a number of paragraphs.
For consultant lobbyists as well, there's the awarding of a contract by or on behalf of Her Majesty, or arranging a meeting between a public office holder and any other person. So that's different for these professional lobbyists.
I think the rationale seems clear that it's different for a person who is paid by a client to seek a meeting with a public office holder, or to seek a contract on behalf of a client, than if the corporation is obviously in the tendering process. That's not intended to be captured by section 7.
That's a long answer to a very short question.
Madam Commissioner, gentlemen, good afternoon. It is a pleasure to have you here. Lobbying is an issue that people are not necessarily familiar with and that I was not that familiar with. We hear about it, of course, but I really appreciated your explanation, especially the clarification you gave in response to my colleague's question about what it is exactly.
Furthermore, it is clear that your staff is not sitting around twiddling its thumbs. They seem to be hard at work, because I can see from your report that you verified a huge number of people and reports, and carried out many reviews and even investigations. So, yes, I do think your people are hard at work, and that is good to know. However, there is something I really want to ask, but I do not want to offend you.
It is no secret that there are lobbyists in this Parliament who are duly registered and recognized but who make introductions for other lobbyists—lobbyists who are not duly registered or recognized and who are then able to meet with members of the Prime Minister's Office, if not the Prime Minister, himself. That is a weakness in the Lobbying Act. I want to know if you have heard about this situation and whether you plan to do anything to bring the situation under control, in accordance with the act. That is my first question.
Colleagues, I believe we've now completed our review of the main estimates for the Commissioner of Lobbying.
If there's no further discussion or concerns, I would like to put the question. Shall vote 40, under Treasury Board, less the amount voted in interim supply, carry?
TREASURY BOARD
Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying
Vote 40--Program expenditures..............$4,203,000
(Vote 40 agreed to)
The Chair: Shall I report the estimates to the House?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
The Chair: Finally. I'm again going to make another commitment to the commissioner.
Last year I raised the issue that the Standing Orders of the House did not incorporate the new officer of Parliament, being the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada. Indeed, section 108 of the Standing Orders also refers to the Lobbyists Registration Act, which was changed to the Lobbying Act, so we have some updates to do.
For a next meeting or a future meeting I would hope that each of the members and parties would consider a motion that the committee recommend that the House update the Standing Orders concerning the mandate of committees to incorporate the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada and to replace references to the Lobbyists Registration Act with the Lobbying Act.
I'd like to deal with that, so could members please consult with your parties on that?
Maybe we can deliver for you, Commissioner, and get you into the Standing Orders.
Madame Thi Lac.